Unit Name: Glenogle Formation
Unit Type: Lithostratigraphic
Rank: Formation
Status: Formal
Usage: Currently in use
Age Interval: Arenig - early Caradoc (478.6 - 455 ma)
Age Justification: The Glenogle Formation is richly fossiliferous. Graptolites in the formation attracted the attention of palaeontologists beginning with identification by Lapworth of material collected by R.G. McConnell (1886, p. 320). Larson and Jackson (1966) determined that the formation is Arenigian to early Caradocian, ranging from the zone of Didymograptus protobifidus to the zone of Nemograptus gracilis.
Province/Territory: British Columbia

Originator: Burling, L.D., 1922.

Type Locality:
Kicking Horse Canyon, near Glenogle Creek, British Columbia, near 51 deg 17'N, 116 deg 49'W.

Distribution:
The Glenogle Formation is about 360 m (1,180 ft) thick at the type section, but the type section is faulted and incomplete (Larson and Jackson, 1966). The formation is thickest (between 600 m and 750 m, 1,968 and 2,880 ft) in the Stanford Range between the headwaters of Shuswap and Windermere creeks (North and Henderson, 1954, p. 66). The formation is best developed in the eastern and central fault blocks of the Brisco, Stanford and Hughes ranges; it thins abruptly east of those ranges and is not known to be present west of the Columbia River.

Locality Data:
Thickness(m): Maximum 750.

Lithology:
Black, fissile, commonly graptolitic shales with sandstone and siltstone laminations and very thin beds in upper part.

Relationship:
Glenogle shales lie gradationally on the McKay Group in many outcrops; the lower Glenogle of the southeast Brisco Range is probably coeval with the upper McKay Group to the west. Locally the upper contact, with the Mount Wilson Formation is sharp and concordant, but there is probably a regional unconformity beneath the Mount Wilson Formation (Larson and Jackson, 1966, p. 492). The Glenogle black shales are likely deposits of an oxygen-deficient environment; the shales are equivalent to the Owen Creek and Skoki formations, and the upper part of the Outram Formation of the eastern main ranges (Aitken and Norford, l967) and to the upper part of the McKay Group of some parts of the western main ranges.

References:
Aitken, J.D. and Norford, B.S., 1967. Lower Ordovician Survey Peak and Outram formations, southern Rocky Mountains of Alberta; Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists, Bulletin of Canadian Petroleum Geology, vol. 15, no. 2 (June), pp. 150-207.
Burling, L.D., 1922. A Cambro-Ordovician section in the Beaverfoot Range, near Golden, British Columbia; Geological Magazine, v. 49, p. 452-461.
Larson, M.L. and Jackson, D.E., 1966. Biostratigraphy of the Glenogle Formation (Ordovician) near Glenogle, British Columbia Bull. Can. Petrol. Geol., v 14, p. 486-503.
McConnell, R.G., 1886. Report on the Cypress Hills, Wood Mountain, and Adjacent Country embracing that portion of the District of Assiniboia lying between the International Boundary and the 51st parallel and extending from long. 106 to long 110°50'; Geological Survey of Canada, Annual Report (new series) 1884 and 1885, Volume I, Part C, with Maps 225 (geology) and 226 (surficial geology).
North, F.K. and Henderson, G.G.L., 1954. Summary of the geology of the southern Rocky Mountains of Canada. In: Alberta Soc. Petrol. Geol., 4th Ann. Field Conf. Guidebook, p. 15-81.

Source: CSPG Lexicon of Canadian Stratigraphy, Volume 4, western Canada, including eastern British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and southern Manitoba; D.J. Glass (editor)
Contributor: H.R. Balkwill
Entry Reviewed: Yes
Name Set: Lithostratigraphic Lexicon
LastChange: 24 Dec 2008